IB 

Union Calendar No. 449 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4167 

[Report No. 114–579] 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone 

systems to have a default configuration that permits users to directly 

initiate a call to 9–1–1 without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, 

or post-fix, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 3, 2015 

Mr. GOHMERT (for himself, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, 

Mr. THOMPSON of California, and Mr. CULBERSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

MAY 23, 2016 

Additional sponsors: Mrs. BLACK, Mr. OLSON, Mr. O’ROURKE, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. BARR, Mr. BURGESS, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. BRADY of Texas, 

Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, Mr. VELA, Mr. 

DESJARLAIS, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. BYRNE, 

Mr. ALLEN, Mr. HECK of Nevada, and Mr. KING of Iowa 

MAY 23, 2016 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 

on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 3, 2015] 


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•HR 4167 RH

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require multiline telephone systems to have a default configuration 

that permits users to directly initiate a call to 9–1– 

1 without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, or 

post-fix, and for other purposes. 


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•HR 4167 RH

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Kari’s Law Act of 

5 2016’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONFIGURATION OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE SYS7 TEMS FOR DIRECT DIALING OF 9-1-1. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Communications 

9 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding 

10 at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 721. CONFIGURATION OF MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE 

12 SYSTEMS FOR DIRECT DIALING OF 9-1-1. 

13 ‘‘(a) SYSTEM MANUFACTURE, IMPORTATION, SALE, 

14 AND LEASE.—A person engaged in the business of manufac15 turing, importing, selling, or leasing multi-line telephone 

16 systems may not manufacture or import for use in the 

17 United States, or sell or lease or offer to sell or lease in 

18 the United States, a multi-line telephone system, unless 

19 such system is pre-configured such that, when properly in20 stalled in accordance with subsection (b), a user may di21 rectly initiate a call to 9-1-1 from any station equipped 

22 with dialing facilities, without dialing any additional 

23 digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access 

24 code such as the digit ‘9’, regardless of whether the user is 


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•HR 4167 RH

1 required to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for 

2 other calls. 

3 ‘‘(b) SYSTEM INSTALLATION, MANAGEMENT, AND OP4 ERATION.—A person engaged in the business of installing, 

5 managing, or operating multi-line telephone systems may 

6 not install, manage, or operate for use in the United States 

7 such a system, unless such system is configured such that 

8 a user may directly initiate a call to 9-1-1 from any station 

9 equipped with dialing facilities, without dialing any addi10 tional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk11 access code such as the digit ‘9’, regardless of whether the 

12 user is required to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post13 fix for other calls. 

14 ‘‘(c) ON-SITE NOTIFICATION.—A person engaged in the 

15 business of installing, managing, or operating multi-line 

16 telephone systems shall, in installing, managing, or oper17 ating such a system for use in the United States, configure 

18 the system to provide a notification to a central location 

19 at the facility where the system is installed or to another 

20 person or organization regardless of location, if the system 

21 is able to be configured to provide the notification without 

22 an improvement to the hardware or software of the system. 

23 ‘‘(d) EFFECT ON STATE LAW.—Nothing in this section 

24 is intended to alter the authority of State commissions or 

25 other State or local agencies with jurisdiction over emerVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 May 24, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H4167.RH H4167

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•HR 4167 RH

1 gency communications, if the exercise of such authority is 

2 not inconsistent with this Act. 

3 ‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT.—This section shall be enforced 

4 under title V, except that section 501 applies only to the 

5 extent that such section provides for the punishment of a 

6 fine. 

7 ‘‘(f) MULTI-LINE TELEPHONE SYSTEM DEFINED.—In 

8 this section, the term ‘multi-line telephone system’ has the 

9 meaning given such term in section 6502 of the Middle 

10 Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 

11 1471).’’. 

12 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by sub13 section (a) shall apply beginning on the date that is 2 years 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to amend the 

Communications Act of 1934 to require multi-line telephone systems to have a configuration that permits users 

to directly initiate a call to 9-1-1 without dialing any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, and for other purposes.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 449 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4167 

[Report No. 114–579] 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to reother purposes. tional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, and for initiate a call to 9–1–1 without dialing any addi- fault configuration that permits users to directly quire multi-line telephone systems to have a deMAY 23, 2016 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 

dered to be printed of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and orVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 May 24, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H4167.RH H4167

emcdonald on DSK9F6TC42PROD with BILLS